SOLDIERS LINKED TO INDO GANGS

There's a new gang in town that's wielding deadly weapons and vying
for drug money.

Two members of Independent Soldiers were arrested in Kelowna last week
with a loaded 9-mm handgun, a crossbow, 18 9-mm gun barrels, cash and
paraphernalia related to the gang, police say.

It's the first time members have been arrested in the Central
Okanagan, and the pair were definitely living here, said Const. Annie
Linteau.

"Kelowna's becoming a bigger community. These people will come and
establish themselves in other, smaller communities. The numbers are
very fluid," she said Monday.

Officers used a search warrant to raid a home in Rutland last Thursday.
The two men, ages 22 and 25, were arrested at the house and face
numerous charges.

The gang has been associated with Indo-Canadian criminals, but Kelowna
RCMP say the "Soldiers" are comprised of people from various ethnic
backgrounds. Like other organized-crime groups, they could be linked
to drug trafficking, prostitution, money laundering and property
crime, said RCMP Supt. Bill McKinnon.

"It's a real concern of ours that organized crime exists . . . in this
community. Whether it be the Hells Angels moving into town, Vietnamese
gangs, Indo-Canadian gangs, it's a real concern because of all the
crime that comes with it," he said.

Vancouver police say the Independent Soldiers consist of Indo-Canadian
gangsters who are battling rival groups involved in drug trafficking.
Kelowna RCMP don't know whether the gang is tolerated by the Hells
Angels here.

"The pie's big enough for everyone," said McKinnon. "There's room for
a number of organized-crime groups to operate in this area. We have a
significant population."

On Sept. 10, members of the Independent Soldiers and another gang
attacked each other with bar stools and broken bottles at a downtown
nightclub in Vancouver. The gang's leader, Sukhvinder Singh (Bicky)
Dosanjh, was killed in a car accident in Vancouver days later.

Guns and other weaponry are used to intimidate and carve out the
gang's drug turf, say police. Most of the recent murders in the
Central Okanagan have been drug-related.

"Organized-crime groups play for keeps. With that we see a lot of
violence," said McKinnon. "In the Lower Mainland, (there are) drive-by
shootings."

The RCMP's latest annual report on organized crime in B.C. ranks the
Indo-Canadian groups third, after outlaw bikers and Asians, when it
comes to strength and organization.

The two arrested Thursday remain in custody.